The Great Dragon Swap
by Clayton Overstreet
Summary: Spike has been feeling left out, so Twilith decides to turn him into a pony for a day. The catch is that in order to transform him five ponies have to agree to become dragons for the same amount of time. Naturally their friends agree, but it turns out that being a dragon or even a pony isn't as easy as they thought.


I don't own these characters or profit from them.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic

The Great Dragon Swap

By, Clayton Overstreet

There are just some times when you have to share certain news. Celestia went to her sister's room just as sunset began but before moonrise was scheduled. Luna was brushing her hair, but she stopped and looked up with a smile as her sister entered.

"Good evening sister, what can we do for you this evening?"

"Nothing. I just thought you might get a kick out of my latest letter from Twilight and her friends." The scroll floating over her head unrolled and floated down between then.

Luna peered at it as her brush floated back to its place on her mirror table. She peered at it and began to read. "Let us see… 'Dear Princess Celestia, we can explain—'" Luna raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Oh this should be very entertaining indeed…"

Twilight Sparkle

Spike looked sad as he walked into the library. Glsancing up from her book Twilight noticed his hangdog expression and the way his tail was dragging on the floor. He did not even glance at her as he headed for the stairs. She flapped her wings and flew up ahead of him, landing gently at the top of the stairs.

"Spike, what's wrong?"

He glanced up. "It's nothing."

She closed her book and cantered over to him. "Don't give me that. If you were any lower you'd be in a hole. What happened?"

He sighed. "It's nothing. I just… well earlier I tried to play soccer with some of the other ponies over at the school."

"Didn't they let you?"

"Oh sure, but when I tried my legs were too short and I just kept either getting left behind or trampled on when the ball came my way. So they made me goalie… which was okay until I actually caught the ball." He wiggled his claws.

"Ouch."

"So I decided to bow out gracefully and went around to see if anyone needed help…" Twilight smirked and he blushed because they both knew who would be the first stop. "Rarity said she could use a little help. She wanted me to help measure her because of all the royal functions she's been going to with us. It was kind of funny seeing her both worried and happy at the same time. I told her she was crazy and looked great, but she wouldn't believe me. So she gives me the tape measure and I…"

"Checked her measurements?" Twilight asked a little too innocently.

Spike's face flared so red steam was coming out. "Don't say it like that. I was a perfect gentleman."

"And kept your eyes closed the whole time? Claws to yourself?"

He fought a grin. "More or less. Let's just say there's no way they'd let me do it in the show. But anyway my arms couldn't reach and then her tail tickled my nose and I sneezed and… well on the bright side all that running to the lake must have really worked off the pounds." Twilight flinched. "I thought maybe I should get out of sight for a while, but I was not sure what else to do. Pinkie is babysitting for the twins and took them to Fluttershy's to play with the animals… none of who really like dragons that much."

Twilight nodded. While they might accept Spike around if Fluttershy insisted and kept an eye on them, most wild animals tended to flee just from the scent of a dragon. A mix of predator and fire. The pets were used to it, but overall it was just a bad idea for Spike to go near wounded wild animals.

"I can't find Rainbow Dash, she's out flying somewhere and Applejack was busy with the orchard and politely turned me down."

"Well Spike the last time you helped and I wasn't there to watch you, you ate a whole basket of her best apples."

Spike sniffed. "Well Twilight I'm a dragon and I get hungry. I couldn't help myself."

"I know Spike. Hey if anybody around here knows what it's like for different species to have different urges and all it's you and me right?"

Spike laughed. "Yeah I guess. But trust me Twilight. Being turned into a human or a dog… it's nothing like being a dragon. I just wish… well I just wish I could fit in with everyone else. Even for just a day. I tried with dragons already and it turns out I get along better with ponies than those fire breathing jerks… but that doesn't make it easy to be left out because I'm different no matter how nice everyone is about it." He suddenly hugged her and Twilight nuzzled his head. Then he let go and walked on to curl up in his basket.

Twiligth watched him for a moment, a tear in the corner of her eye. Then she trotted downstairs, thinking it over. Looking around at the shelves she scanned the titles of the books around her, looking for something… anything that might help. Research had never failed her before.

One caught her eye and she used her magic to make it come to her. The title read "Magical Transformations" by, Starswirl the Bearded. "Well gee, this might help."

000

It was just before dawn when the six ponies and one young dragon stood together. Applejack looked between Twilight and Spike as they stood out in the park. "Now you want to do what exactly?"

"It's a spell I found in the library," Twilight explained. "It will turn Spike into a pony for a day but it has to be performed at dawn."

"And you need us because…?" Rainbow Dash prompted.

"Well you see according to the book changing magical creatures, especially some as powerful as dragons, isn't easy. Look at Discord. He can change shape at will into just about anything, but unless he really concentrate his eyes and fangs tend to pop back to normal. It's why even us princesses can't just turn every threat to Equestria to frogs or statues or whatever. Even when they turned Discord into a statue the spell was unstable enough to wear off after a while."

"But didn't you tell us that you and Spike both changed into a dog and a… what did you call that weird monkey thing darling?"

"A human," Twilight said patiently. "But without a magical item of great power and just the right stars… well it's not that easy."

Pinkie said, "I have a question."

"Yes?"

She turned to Rarity. "What happened to your butt?" Rarity's hindquarters were wrapped up entirely in white bandages.

Rarity blushed and her lips tightened. "I don't want to talk about it." Spike carefully looked elsewhere.

"So in order to offset all that power it needs to go somewhere while Spike is busy being a pony," Twilight said. "According to the book I need volunteers to take on Spike's power for a day."

"So you… you want to turn us into dragons?" Fluttershy asked.

"Uh, more or less," Twilight said.

"I don't know…"

Spike fell to his knees. "Please, just for one day? I just want to hang out like a normal pony once."

"I for one don't mind at all," Rainbow Dash said. "I think it might be cool to be a dragon. Though I'm no sure you need all of us for this." She went over and leaned on Spike's head. "I mean how much power could little Spike here have?"

"Uh Rainbow, remember the time he turned into a giant dragon and rampaged through the town?" Twilight asked.

Below her Spike growled a little and Rainbow Dash backed up. "Just kidding Spike."

"Yeah well watch it. Being a dragon isn't a joke," he said, standing up and brushing himself off. "It takes a lot of self control." The girls did not say anything, but all of them except Twilight were smiling, obviously not taking him that seriously.

"So will you all help?"

"Sure," Applejack said.

Pinkie Pie smiled. "It sounds like fun."

"If it will help Spike feel better," Fluttershy mumbled uncertainly.

They looked at Rarity. "I don't know… I mean I'm so gorgeous as I am I don't know how I'll look in scales…"

"Did I mention the transformation will fix your tail?" Twilight said.

"Do it! Do it now!" Rarity shouted.

Spike sighed. "Now she says it…"

"Spike!" Twilight said aghast. Looking away Rarity blushed and the other fillies all giggled and nudged her.

"Fine then, let us begin." Twiligth said with dignity. She opened the book and began to read. "Though I know I should be wary, still I venture someplace scary… whoops, wrong spell."

"Save that one for later," Pinkie said, smiling.

"What happened to your teeth? They're all green," Rainbow asked.

Pinkie smiled and held out a back. "Candy, want some?"

"Not right now," Twilight said, flipping through her book. The sun was just starting to rise and the moon to set. "Here we go." She cleared her throat. "Powers of darkness and powers of light, change the creatures in my sight. Turn hoof to claw for a day and night, trade pony's form for dragon might!" Her horn glowed and shot a blinding white beam into Spike, making him glow and rise off the ground, his eyes glowing. Then a rainbow that split into six different colors spilled from his mouth like fire, spreading to the other ponies and enveloping them too. The light got brighter and brighter until suddenly the world seemed to disappear in a flash.

Twilight blinked a little, trying to see. "Did it work?"

"I feel strange," Spike said. Twilight started to see better as the afterimage of the light faded. "How di I look?"

Twilight blinked a few times. Her vision cleared and a shape appeared. "Give me a… whoa…"

There was a pony in front of her. A stallion really. His fur was pinkish purple and his long mane and hooved were sea green. He was big, even bigger than Big Mac, well muscled but not bulky. His eyes still had slits, but in every other respect he was a pony. Not only that, but he was one of the handsomest ponies Twilight had ever seen.

"Spike you look… really good."

Looking down at his hooves he reared back a bit trying to stand up, but then fell forward, striking the ground. "Well at least I have some experience walking on all fours.I wouldn't want to look as goofy as you ddi when you were trying to figure out those human hands."

"Ha-ha," Twilight said. "Very funny."

"Hey check it out, I even have a cutie mark," he said, displaying his flank. On it was a quill and an ink pot.

(Off in the distance watching through a telescope were the Cutie Mark crusaders. Applebloom threw the telescope to the ground and they all stormed off muttering angrily under their breaths. "Stupid fan fics… lousy writers…" and so on, not to be seen for the rest of the fic.)

"Where's everyone else?"

They looked around and then stared, their jaws dropping open wide in unison. Getting to their feet were their friends, but different. For one thing they were all… bigger. Not even as big as the teenage dragons Spike had met during his ill fated attempt to join the dragon migration, but bigger than your average pony.

"They are a couple years older than you so I guess they're a little more developed," Twilight said.

Fluttershy was long and snake-like, looking like a sea serpent with pink head fins and spikes down her back. She had two bat-like wings sticking out of the yellow scaled of her spine. Her body twisted as she examined herself, poking at her long tail with her claws. When she did not feel anything she poked harder and harder. "Wow, it's like I can't even feel pain."

"That's dragon hide for you," Spike said. "It takes something needle sharp or serated to get through it most times. Like wearing a leather coat only everywhere."

Applejack stood up on her hind legs, towering over Spike and Twilight. "Well tarnation! This'll make apple picking easier. Ya know getting the ones up at the tops of the trees is the hardest. Plus well I just bet I'm even stronger than my big brother now." She flexed her arms, showing off massive muscles like boulders under her golden scales.

"How do you think I carry all of Twilight's books?" Spike asked. "Careful though, it's not the weight, it's getting the balancing right that's the problem.

Rainbow Dash, a slim dragon with blue scales and multicolored spikes down her back to a spike's tail spread her wings, flapping them hard and making the windo blow. "Wow, this is great." She rose up into the sky fast, and opened her mouth to laugh, but instead roared loud enough to shake the ground. She quickly landed. "What was that?"

"Yeah, dragons can be pretty loud when we want to be," Spike said. "When I was a baby Twilight barely got any sleep."

"Oh don't remind me," Twilight said. "When he wasn't roaring or growling he was snoring up a storm. It took years to get him to lower his voice."

Spike smiled. "Usually now I can barely remember how to roar properly."

"You managed it when you were giant sized," Pinki said. The pink dragon was pretty big, swishing her tail back and forth, making a whistling sound. She stuck out her tongue longer and longer, like an unrolling noise maker until it was over ten feet long and straight out. Then it snapped back into her mouth."Neat… oops." She crashed her tail into a nearby tree, knocking it over. A squirrel came out to chitter at her.

"It's okay little friend," Fluttershy said, rushing over. The squirrel's eyes widened and he turned and ran away. "Oh my, I didn't mean to scare the little thing."

"You'll have to get used to that," Spike said.

"I'm sure my animal friends will understand," she said firmly. "After all I'm not mean like those big grumbly dragons. I'll be as kind as I ever was."

"Yeah," Rainbow said, smirking and showing off a few fangs. "We can handle this. It should be easy enough, right Spike? Spike?"

Spike was staring in a daze at Rarity. Sleek, long legged, with pearly white scales. She still had her main and the tip of her tail was long haired and curly just like her pony tail. Her eyes glistened like sapphires and her claws glistened like diamonds to match the twin horns now sticking out of her head over her eyes. She was using them to brush her mane and tail hair. "My this is satisfying…" She caught sight of Spike, maybe having missed him until now because he was not at eye level. "Oh my Spike, you're gorgeous!"

"I am?" He said, snapping out of it. he looked down at himself. "I can't see."

"Then we must find you a mirror." She lowered her head on her long neck and batted her eyes. "My word, I had no idea you'd make such a handsome stallion… uh… colt." Spike looked up at her, his eyes shining. Rarity was blushing green on her cheeks, her white scales showing it off obviously. Before he could say anything though, she inhaled through her powerful dragon snout and the tip of his hair tickled her nose. "Oh my… ah… ah… achoo!" A short blast of fire enveloped Spike. Burning his mane and tail down to what looked like a singed buzz cut. "My word!" Sitting on her hind legs Rarity covered her snouth with her claws. "Spike, I'm so sorry!"

Wincing a bit Spike said, "Ow… that stings!" Then he looked up and saw Rarity's worried face. He shook, dislodging the leftover soot and ash. "Oh, um, I'm alright. I'm just not used to fire hurting… even a little." He reached up and touched his mane. "And hey, I think this might be a good look for me."

"I didn't mean to… I don't know where to put my face."

"Point it away from us," Twilight said. "Until you get used to it."

"Am I that ugly now?" Rarity whined.

"No you're very pretty," Spike said instantly. "Just different than when you were a pony."

"Yes, I'm sure you're a very pretty dragon," Fluttershy said nervously.

"It's so hard to tell," Rarity said. "There are so many differences… I am not even sure where I would begin designing the outfits for any of us."

"Hey Twilight," Pinkie said. "Why haven't you changed?"

"I was the one casting the spell," she explained. "Besides, I've had more than enough transformations this year thanks. Maybe later, but for now I think I'll stick to being a pony."

"Your loss," Pinkie said.

"This is awesome," Rainbow Dash said.

"Now remember girls," Twilight said. "The spell ends at dawn tomorrow. Until then maybe you should…" She realized she was talking to empty air. Even Spike had run off. "… lay low." She sighed. "Oh well, what's the worst that could happen?"

000

Applejack

When Applejack got back to her farm Granny Smith and Big Machintosh stared in shock. They were pretty much the only family in Ponyville that got up at sunrise. "Hey everybody, check me out."

"Is that our Applejack? She seems… bigger," Granny said, peering through her glasses.

"Eeeeyep," Big Mac said. "What in tarnation happened to you?"

"Twilight wanted to give Spike a day as a pony, so we all volunteered to be dragons for a day in his place as part of the spell."

"Well that was nice of you," Granny Smith said. "I suppose."

She lowered her head down to her brother and smiled, showing a lot of pointed teeth. "Hey big brother, want to arm wrestle?"

"Nope," he said, looking at his reflection off those pearly whites.

"Then how about we take a crack at the orchard." She stood up, stretching her long arms and claws. "I bet that being like this I could get the apples all the way from the top."

"Yup," he agreed.

"Then let's get started… hey, where's Applebloom."

"Oh she and her friends wandered off somewheres," granny said. "I don't know what that filly is thinking half the—" She started snoring, standing there asleep.

"Well looks like it's just you and me Big Mac," Applejack said. "Come on, let's get to work."

000

Rainbow Dash

Flying through the air Rainbow Dash was having a ball. She was going higher than she had ever gone before. Normally when a pony reached a certain height the thin air and cold forced her to go back down to warmer air. As a dragon ice formed on her scaled, then cracked and fell away. She was so high up she could see the whole world spilling out before her like a map.

Her dragon wings did not move as fast as her pony wings did, flapping with flow beats rather than the fast flapping. "I don't think I could do a sonic rainboom," she said to herself. Then she remembered something she had seen Gilda do. "I wonder how well I dive…" She took a deep breath, breathing in and then out in a spray of magical fire, and then folded her wings, her body plummetting towards the ground.

As it rushed up befor her she wondered briefly if she could pull out in time. But her new body also had instincts and just as she would have his the tops of the trees she opened them with a sound like flapping scales, her talons stretching out to tear the branches as she passed, and then rose up into the sky again. She roared loudly, "Yahoo! That was awesome!" With a sound of thunder she rose again, heading up into the sky.

000

Pinkie Pie

Pinkie was hopping along, literally bouncing up and down like she usually did, as she tried to think of the best way to use her new body. "Maybe I could set off fireworks…" she snorted fire out of her nose. "Except smoking s bad for you and I don't want kids to get the wrong idea…" She considered. "I could give dragon rised! Run around town and let everyonr ride me, that'll be fun and I can earn some extra money too and I could use it to throw a big party when we turn back and invite all our friends and the rest of Ponyville and maybe even the princessessss…" The last came out as a long hiss. "Huh… talking with a forked tongue isn't eassssssy…"

Still talking to herself and hopping along she did not notice the way each jump made the ground shake.

000

Rarity

Still tired Rarity wanted to get back home and crawl into bed. Her parents were out and her sister was nowhere to be seen, so she just went home and straight to her room. It was a tight fit, squeasing through the doors of her house. Her horns scraped the doorway on her way in tearing through it in a shower of splinters.

"Well thank goodness I did not end up with wings," she said to herself. "I'd never have fit inside." She was equally glad that her woom and workshop were big enough to accomidate her. She headed to the bed to get in. For a moment she tried using her magic to pull down the covers so she could slip inside, but nothing happened. "Oh dear, I don't have my magic… how do other ponies do this?"

Reaching out she daintily used her claw and pushed the blanket down. She was very tired and needed some rest. She still had work to do in the afternoon on a dress for mrs. Cake. It was some anniversary for her and her husband and they were going out. Rarity needed to be fresh.

Her claw caught on thesheet and she had to shake it to get it off. Oh well, she thought, I don't feel cold. I suppose I'll just have to sleep on top of the covers." Gingerly getting up onto the mattress, testing to make sure it could take her weight, she couled up into a ball in the middle of her large bed. "And to think, just yesterday I was worried about putting on weight."

As she dozed off Rarity remembered what Spike had looked like before they had gone their separate ways. He had looked very strong and noble. Like a prince. It occurred to her that Spike really was a great guy… pretty much exactly like she had always dreamed of. He was rich, paid handsomely for his services as Twilight's assistant. He knew Princess Celestia almost from the day he was born and thanks to him and Twilight Rarity had gotten to know Luna, Cadence, and of course Twilight not to mention Discord who was technically still a king as well as a god, even if he had been deposed.

Spike also did his best to help Rarity whenever he could. Digging crystals, sewing dresses… even fanning her. She really should have been more gacious when he accidentally set her on fire the other day. Rarity felt a twinge of guilt as she remembered how Spike had taken his own accidental fire. She really should be nicer to him.

As sleep claimed her again Rarity sank into a dream of a handsome pink-purple pony who slowly morphed into a handsome dragon. The image both scared and excited her, leaving her with a nice warm feeling on her skin as the dream continued.

000

Fluttershy

Even before she made it all the way home Fluttershy noticed that animals were avoiding her. She did not blame them. She remembered how she felt when she saw a big dragon coming and though she was not really as big as a really big dragon, when she got a look at herself in a stream along the way she could not blame them. When she got home it was mostly deserted. Only her chickens, trapped in their coup, were left and they were huddled at the far end clucking in fear.

Fluttershy had never really scared anything before. Even when she gave someone or something "the stare" as it was called, had only felt the kind of fear you did when you broke a lamp or something and knew your parents would be mad. A mix of guilt and knowing you were in trouble with no way out. Well there was that one time at the Gala… but she rpefered to not think about that.

Now they fled instead because they knew if they did not they would die. In Fluttershy's case that was unlikely, but how were cute little animals to know that? Obviously until she turned back to normal, frolicking with her cute and fuzzy friends would have to wait. She felt sad as she realized that. "Oh this is just awful…" Then she tripped over a rock and fell onto the path, face first. "Ow!" She paused, righting herself. "Wait, that didn't hurt at all. She touched her face with her claw. No blood. Looking down she saw a trench dug in the well packed down dirt and cobbles leading up to her house. The rocks were cracked. Her claws had sliced through the ground like butter.

Reaching back she picked up the rock she had tripped over, ripping it out of the ground with one talon. It was, under the ground, bigger than her pony self had been. Flexing she crushed it to gravel as if it were made of stale bread.

Fluttershy had never been this strong in her life, even if she was scared and angry. Adrenalin only helped so much. Now she was one of the strongest creatures in the world and practically invulnerable.

Her eyes rolled to the side, looking at the dark shadows of the Everfree Forest. Fluttershy had gone in it once or twice to help her friends or to visit Zecora, but always ran through and left as quickly as possible. Only catching glimpses of the terrible creatures that dwelled within. But now… well what could a timberwolf or a hydra do to a dragon? Just another cute and cuddly critter, right?

000

Spike

Being a pony was in a lot of ways a lot like being a dog. Parts of him were bigger and at first embarrassingly obvious, but since every pony else was the same way that feeling quickly faded. His hooves did not hurt as much as feet or paws, though his ankles twinged a bit if he stepped wrong.

Trotting through town Spike noticed that people turned to watch him curiously as he walked, but it seemed different than when they would watch him as a dragon. Mares looked at him speculatively, the way they would a handsome stallion, rather than as if they were watching someone's adorable pet walk by. While Spike did not exactly mind when he sometimes got groups of females around him telling him how adorable he was, having them notice him like an adult pony was not bad either.

"Hey you," someone called out. Spike turned and saw the ponies he had been playing with the day before. "We need another player. Want to join in?"

"Sure!"

000

Twilight Sparkle

Twilight was reading through the books in the library and trying not to worry too much about her friends. At first she had considered following them, but the they had gone off in so many different directions she had no idea who to follow. So instead she had gone home, hoping that if anything did happen they would know where to find her. Pacing and worrying had gotten old quick so she had turned to her books.

In the early afternoon someone began fiddling with the front door, but not opening it. Twilight used her horn to do so, wondering who it could be. When it opened Spike fell in, lying in a dirty heap.

"Spike, are you okay?" She asked, running over to him.

He smiled up at her. "Yeah, I'm fine Twilight. I just… whew, I am beat. I was playing ball with some ponies and I'm worn out. I just kept running up and down the field for hours…" His stomach growled. "I just came home to get myself something to eat. I am starving."

"I'm not surprised," she said indulgently. "You usually don't run anywhere unless a monster is behind you or Rarity wants your opinion on a new dress."

Spike blushed. "Twilight…"

"Come on Spike, on your hooves. Let's get you some food." She turned, heading for the kitchen. She gave it little thought as Spike galloped upstairs. "So are you enjoying your day as a pony?"

"Yeah, I really am. It's a little different and some of it isn't easy, but it's not like I've never been turned into a mammal before. It's kind of freaky but… fun."

"I know how you feel. What do you want to eat?"

"Nevermind, I've still got some leftovers from yesterday," he said from upstairs. "Ah, yum, I love emerald shards…"

"Spike no!" Twilight shouted, just as she heard a crunch.

"AH!" A cry of pain came from upstairs.

"Oh no," Twilight said.

000

Applejack had her own misadventure at the start of her day. Almost on instinct she had tried bucking a tree before plucking apples with her claws. This had resulted in her having to retrieve the tree from the other side of the orchard, replanting it, and feeling embarrassed as she saw the clawed footprint in the bark. Also her foot hurt where she had kicked it.

"I should have thought that through better," she muttered.

"E-yep," her brother said.

"I'll stick to pickin' them off of the tree," she said.

This turned out to be easier said than done. Kicking the tree and picking the apples up off the ground was one thing. Reaching through the braches, without breaking them was another. It went well for a while, but eventually her concentration faded and branches broke, each time making her and her brother flinch. It was going to take a lot of pruning to fix this.

"Maybe you could just gather them up after I buck," Big Mac said.

"Yeah, uh good idea," she said.

This also seemed like a lot better idea than it was. Applejack's claws tended to pierce and crush the fruit unless she was very careful. Using her teeth was a good way to make applesause. Plus she got a stem up her nose and… well it was nice of Big Mac not to say anything as she beat the fire out. Fortunately the tree was very alive and green and with wet wood so it went out quickly without doing much damage.

By the time afternoon rolled around Applejack's back was sore from beding over, her arms were aching from reaching, and the single basket of undamaged fruit she carried, while large, has not even a franction of what she normally harvested.

"You'll be back to normal soon, raight?" Big Mac asked.

"Tomorrow," Applejack promised.

"Then maybe you should take a break until then," Mac said kindly. "

Applejack nodded. It was clear that she was doing a lot more harm than good. "I'll just… put these away in the barn and go find someplace to lay down." He nodded and watched nervously as she lumbered off, carrying the basket awkwardly in her claws.

When she got to the barn she opened the large doors and stepped inside, setting the basket down among the others. "Stupid cartoon existence… like I can't do anything with my freetime but harvest apples… in summer! Oh and rodeo stuff. I'm barely a two dimensional character… not that any of my friends have it any better…" As she complained she leaned back against the wall, adjusting her hat that was only staying on her head because it was hooked on a spine like a coat rack. Reaching out she absetnly picked up and apple and took a bite. When she went for another she realized that the apple was already gone. Well… one more wouldn't hurt.

000

Rainbow Dash was on top of a mountain, flexing her wings. So far she had blown over a small group of trees, some boulders, and a very surprised flying squirrel who was still flying towards the next kingdom. All with barely any effort at all.

"I wonder what I could really do," she said. "If I tried."

So standing on the ledge, she started flapping her wings as fast as she could. Which was not very fast. It was like trying to swim through mud. Dragons were largely gliders, using their powerful muscles to rise, but once they were up mostly just spreading their wings and catching the wind. Not like a pegasus at all really who constantly flapped their feathered wings, feeling the wind rush through them.

These wings, they grabbed and clutched the air, scooping it together. Reaching out she ran her claws in it, felt the swirl in front of her as more came with each flex of her muscles.

Soon a shape began to form made of dust and twigs and then rocks. Growing bigger and bigger until it formed a funnel, twisting in her claws like a toy getting bigger and bigger. As her wings finally began to slow from the effort the tornado kept spinning, caught in its own force going all the way up to the clouds. "Wow, this is so cool…" She stopped flapping. The tornado kept spinning. "Okay you can stop now." She waved her claws through it. The rocks and things inside bounced off her scales without damage, but no matter what she tried she could not make the wind slow. "Stop!" With that yell a blast of fire was swept up in the wind and the tornado shot forward, moving through the air and down the mountain, straight towards Ponyville, till on fire.

"Uh oh…"

000

Pinkie Pie

Twilight was leading Spike across the street. His mouth was swollen, wrapped up, and he was moaning. Twilight paused to check both directions before crossing.

Just as she did a pink dragon ran by, being chased by a bunch of angry ponies from around town. She screamed out, "Look, I just needed to go to the toilet! How was I supposed to know?"

Twilight waited until they were all past and then started forward again. Spike mumbled something. She said, "We… saw… NOTHING!" She looked at him, daring him to say anything. Too hurt to argue Spike just lowered his head and followed her.

000

Rarity

The fire had started while she was asleep. Not very long after in fact since only one wall had caught when she woke up smelling smoke. Startled she had jumped out of bed, basically shredding everything in the process. "My sheets!" The fire caught her attention again. "My room!" Another blast of fire shot out of her mouth, this time hitting the shattered and torn remnants of her bed, lighting it on fire too. "Eeek!" This time the fire was longer and hotter.

Finally remembering her situation Rarity clamped her mouth shut on the next scream, but that just made the fire come out her nose; a feeling like when someone had soda go down the wrong way and coughts it up into their sinuses. The pain at least shut her up and she moved, reaching out to beat out the fire. To her relief her new limbs were fireproof so it did not hurt as she spent the next ten minutes beaing the flames out with her tail.

Taking a deep breath, which she wisely released into her cupped claws, Rarity said, "I am going to write a strongly worded letter to the firedepartment. I could have used some help." She forced herself to settle down. "Okay… first thing tomorrow I'll have someone in the fix this mess." She looked at her bed and whimpered. "So much for getting any decent sleep. Might as well get to work…" She moved gracefully over to her work area, pausing to admire herself in her full length mirrors. She did not fit in them entirely now, but with a little moving around got a decent look at herself.

"Not bad, I look both beautiful and dangerous. And those scales are just marvelous. It's really too bad I can't have more time to design something that would look good on a dragon… then again where does one get fireproof cloth?"

Shrugging it off she focused on her tools. Five hours later she was still staring at them because she realized that she did not have her unicorn horn anymore. Just the two on her head, which did not glow at all. "Well, that's just inconvenient." She looked at her claws. According to Twilight she had used… hands similar to these to do things in the other world. Absently Rarity bent down and picked up her scissors. To her surprise two of her claws slipped into the loops on the end and when she moved them they opened and closed. "So this is how people without magic use these things… makes me wonder why we design them this way since there's nobody in the kingdom besides Spike who could even do this." She tried cutting a length of cloth, but found it was harder to aim scissors this way than she thought and ended up giving up.

They stuck to her claw, so she shook it and the scissors flew across the room, sticking hard into the burnt wall. "Darn it!"

Suddenly she felt something tickling her nose. Crossing her eyes she saw a vision of pure evil and violent hatred on the end of her nose, trying to claw at her. "Opal! Whose a good kitty?" Opal began clawing at Rarity's nose. "Opal don't, that tickles. I'm going to… ah…ah… achoo!"

A moment later afurious cat with its tail on fire raced from the room through an open window. Rarity might have stopped her, but she was busy beating out another fire where her bed used to be. "How could this day possibly get any worse?"

Suddenly a golden dragon head stuck through the wall of her house. Applejack looked embarrassed, but not sorry. "Rarity, I need your help!"

Still beating at the embers and now with ash marring her gleaming scaled Rarity said, "Just one moment dear, I'm busy trying to stop what's left of my house from burning down."

"Yeah, uh, sorry about that," Applejack said, walking the rest of the way through the hole, the wall falling around her like summer leaves. "I just… I need food Rarity!"

"Don't you have food at home? It's practically all your family does."

"I thought so. I tried eatin' apples and I finished half the barn before I realized that they barely made me full. Then about an hour later I was hungry again and belching burnt apple cores and I realized why Spike's always so hungry."

"So what do you want here? All my food is flamable." Rarity glared at the wall, but moved back, afraid of restarting it.

"Yeah well about that. While my stomach started rumbling something fierce I gave it some thought and it occurred to me what Spike's favorite food is."

Rarity's eyes widened. "No! Applejack you can't. I need those…" Suddenly her stomach roared as loud as any dragon, cutting her off. Shoulders slumping Rarity sighed and reached over to a nearby chest. She opened it up and saw the gemstones stacked inside. "We'll share."

Instead of answering Applejack snarled and stuck her face into the chest. Rarity had to yank her back to scoop up a handfull for herself, shattered remnants of a fortune tinkling on the floor as they fell from Applejack's shap teeth.

"These rubies are going ot go straight to my thighs, I just know it," Rarity whined as she took a bite. "Hmm, these aren't bad… maybe a hint of gold would help…" Applejack mumbled assertion, reached a claw for another handful.

000

Fluttershy

Zecora was out in the woods gathering herbs when the ground began to shake. Diving back she hid in the bshes as the strangest collection of monsters ran past. Hydras, manticores, cockatrices, and timber wolves.

A small dragon followed soon after, yellow scales shining in the dim light of the forest. "Wait, come back! It was an accident!" She had tears in her eyes.

"Do my ears deceive, because I cannot believe my eye. Is that you, gentle Fluttershy?"

The dragon looked at her. "Zecora! I'm so glad to see you."

"As I would be too, but answer me this, is that really you?"

"Yes, it is," she said bashfully. "We um… turned into dragons so that Spike could have a day as a pony."

"Ah yes I know of such a difficult spell. Does that mean your other friends have scales as well?"

"Yes," she said looking down.

"But tell me dear, what are you doing way out here?"

"Well you see," Fluttershy said. "I wanted to… since dragons can't be hurt I thought this would be a good chance to get to know some of the… um… less nice creatures in the woods. But it turns out… well there's a reason dragons live alone in a cave. You see I was making friends with some timberwolves and they were… well they were trying to eat me. So I tried betting one and letting them know I was a friend because I wasn't getting hurt and they were just being wolves…" She held up a claw. In it was a limp timber wolf. "But he don't move no more."

Zecora came forward cautiously and looked at the monster in Fluttershy's grip. "Don't worry Fluttershy, it will be okay. Just leave it here and do not stay."

Lying it down carefully in the moss Fluttershy said, "That's a relief. Um, what now?"

"I suggest you find a place to be, where you can wait in safety. Unless of course you wish to be, here when you are again a pony."

"Eep," Fluttershy said, shooting out a blast of fire in her fear. "Uh, which way is Ponyville?" Zecora pointed a hoof and she took off running.

"And people wonder why I live alone," Zecora said and decided it might be a good idea to go home herself. She gathered up the dead timberwolf and said, "now my tasty treat let's get you home." Licking her lips she disappeared into the woods.

000

Spike

He had never felt pain like this in his life. As the unicorn dentiust used his magic to fix his broken teeth Spike reflected that this never happened to dragons. Even if they should lose a tooth another grew in after it. Normally he could eat a gem like that as if it were nothing, but now… how did ponies live on soft foods like that? True the taste was okay, but it was hardly filling. You needed gemstones, something the would not just turn to liquid in the heat of dragon fire.

Then again fire was not a problem for ponies. They ate grass for crying out loud. When he had been turned into a dog he remembered eating cafeteria food and those dog biscuit things. Too bad he had not remembered that before trying to use pony teeth on a rock.

Out in the waiting room Twilight was reading a magazine when someone outside the window saw her. The mayor opened the door. Twilight you won't believe what happened."

Holding the magazine in front of her face she said, "Oh?"

"Yes, first a pink dragon came by offering rides on her back, but then she left and… well defiled… well let's just say you do not want to eat at the Pintocelli resturant… ever. And as we chased the beast out of town along with two more dragons that broke into Rarity's house and were devouring all of her gemstones. Then a giant flaming tornado being chased by a blue dragon headed right towards town only to be intercepted by the other three dragons sending them into the flying one and a wave of panicking monsters from the everyfree forest who were all picked up and thrown back into the woods."

"Was anybody hurt?"

"No we're all fine, but we could have used your help, princess."

"Sorry I was taking a sick friend to the dentist. Don't worry, when we're done here I'll go make sure those dragons stay away. If they come back tell me."

"Thanks Twilight." She let out a sigh of relief. "It's been quite a day. By the way, do you know where Rarity is? We need to tell her about her house."

"I'll keep an eye out," Twilight promised. When the mayor was gone she sagged to the floor. "You know it's times like this I miss the days when it was just me and Spike in the royal library."

Twilight Sparkle

Twilight flew over the forest, using her powers to levitate Spike next to her and light up the night as she searched. His teeth were fixed, but Spike was still hungry and occassionally bent down to chew leaves off passing trees. "Come on Twilight, can't I just ride on your back? Floating like this feels weird, like I'm falling."

"Spike, after everything that's happened today the last thing I need is someone taking a picture of me flyig around with a stallion draped over my back. Can you imagine how that would look?" She glanced at him and saw his hue grin. "I see you can."

"Oh come on, it'll be funny."

"No." She spotted a hole in the trees with smoke coming out of it. "I think we've found them."

The dragons were there all right. It seemed the four of them had landed on Fluttershy near the edge of the forest.

"Are you all okay?" Spike asked as they touched down. The girls made various affirmations, but these were mostly mumbled. "What's wrong?"

They shared a look and then began telling Twilight what happened. When they were done Twilight said, "One thousand years of peace in this kingdom and suddenly everything we do leads to destruction. You know maybe we should have let Nightmare Moon rule the world. I don't see a lot of stuff happening in the land of eternal night."

"Don't mind her," Spike said. "She's just cranky because of the dentist bill and because another one of her spells backfired and almost destroyed the town." Twilight sniffed but didn't say anything.

"It's our fault Twilight," Fluttershy said. "We should have just found a quiet place to relax."

"I got to admit," Rainbow Dash said. "I've got a newfound respect for Spike after hearing everything that happened."

Applejack said, I don't know how you put up with that hunger… no wonder you're always grabbing snacks."

"Or that fire," Rarity said. "Half a day and we almost burned down all of Ponyville. Suddenly a little sneeze every now and then seems like nothing."

"Not to mention making friends," Pinkie said. "One little mistake and suddenly nobody likes you just because you're a dragon."

Fluttershy said, "Well to be fair dragons are strong hungry fire breathing monsters. I can understand why they spend so much time alone in caves away from everyone collecting their hoards. For the most part staying away from everyone is the best they could do."

"Yeah, well accidents happen," Rainbow Dash muttered. "I mean when you're that strong things get broke."

Spike asked, "So um, what do we do? Sit here and twiddle our thumbs until dawn."

"YES!" All of them said.

"What's a thumb?" Pinkie asked.

"That thich claw on the inside of your paw," Twilight said.

"How do you twiddle them."

"Okay this is going to take some explaining…"

When dawn hit and the ponies, tired ut relieved, were back to their real selves and Spike was riding happily on Rarity's back Twilight said, "Maybe we should fly home. I could levitate everyone who doesn't have wings. I'd hate to get eaten by monsters after all of this."

Fluttershy waved her off. "Don't worry, I don't think any monsters will be coming anywhere near here for a long time." She looked at Spike who lay sleeping as they trotted towards home. "Though it's kind og hard to remember that Spike counts as one."

"Well I think he looks even better in scales than he did as a pony," Rarity said. "Thoguh you have to admit… he was pretty cute." The girls giggled and agreed.

000

luna continued reading, "And in closing we've learned an important lesson about learning to walk before trying to run. Signed, Twilight Sparkle, and friends."

"Well it sounds like she's learning a lot about power," Celestia said.

"Should we tell them about when we were starting out and we crashed the sun and moon into what is now the desert near Appleoosa?"

"No."

Author's Note

I've been thinking about this for a while and judging from the fan art I'm not the only one. It's your classic tale of "the grass is always greener", "learn to love who you are", etc. But with dragons and ponies.


End file.
